BOM (book of me) Challenge

Here is the layout I did for the BOM Challenge for the ETG over at scrapbook.com. The challenge was to scrap a page about things that make you happy. You also received extra points if you included at least 5 things. I kept this fairly simple and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I kept it all in the neutral zone for the colors. Printed my picture off in sepia and inked the edges with some different browns and reddish browns with colorbox chalks (I just love those things). Then in Print Shop I typed the beginning of each of my boxes with sentences such as "Happiness to me consists of" and I'm Happiest when" or "It makes me happy" etc. (get the idea?) then I left room to finish the sentence in my own handwriting. So I cut all those boxes, inked them and then finished the sentence about things that make me happy. I then also made the title in Print Shop and punched out the tags and added them to the title with brads. I used a mesh type embellishment behind that and put together the layered flower and added a button with hemp in it as well as some hemp around my picture. I then just added the little extras and also added a little bit of doodling, not much though. I laid this all out prior to writing in my boxes just to make sure it would all fit nicely. I think I actually had about 3 boxes left over. I think I will do a few pages kind of like this for my BOM about things I love, things I dislike.... :O) we'll see, sounds good now! LOL... SOOO, if you don't have a BOM going I suggest you start one. We always tend to scrap everything and everyone except ourselves. I am glad I have started doing these challenges because now I have a book just for myself and all about me... some day someone just might pick it up and take interest in it!! I really liked how it turned out the only thing I might do a little different is use a little thicker marker to write in. I may go back and go over it all, or maybe not!!





THANKS for looking! and thanks if you left me a message!

Another Birthday Card

This was just another quickie birthday card I made for a friend. I used this cute Penny Black Stamp called Party Animals. I think this is actually the first time I used it to make a card. I colored the image with Bic Mark-its. Inked the edges with colorbox chalk - pink and added that cute striped pp. I outlined the image and the pp with black to make everything pop just a bit and added the blue ribbon and bow to bring out the little bit of blue in the image and the 3 yellow felt flowers gave it just the right balance I think.



Thanks for looking!

Purse of the day - Tag

Ok, here's a fun way to kind of get to know a bit about our friends here in blogland. Nancy of Wind Star Creations hit me with this purse-of-the-day tag. Pay her blog a visit and check out her beautiful blog; it is linked to this title post or on my sidebar.

The Rules:

1. Post a picture of whatever bag you are using today - not last weekend when you and your hubby went out to that fabulous restaurant. No cheating!!!

2. Tell us how much it cost. This is a no-judgment zone -- there will be no ridiculing or eye rolling here. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.

3. Then, I pick 5 people to post on their blog!


Well, Fist I must say I am glad we are photographing the outside of our purse and not the inside!! If there is one thing about me and if you haven't figured it out yet, it is all about color!! I love love love color. On my walls, in my clothes, in my work and so it also carries into my purse. I fell in love with this turqoise colored purse I bought at Payless Shoes. We were shopping for shoes for my dd for basketball and I seen this color and thought OH MAN I love it, wasn't so much about the purse as it was about the color of the purse! The store had a sale buy one get one @ 1/2 price, so I actually think I only paid a mear 10.00 for this purse, BUT isn't that simply a GORGEOUS color. I too like to change purses with the seasons, as I am sure many women do. The purse I was carrying before this one was a bright pinkish purple that I got at the outlet mall and didn't carry it long as I got it at the end of the season, so I imagine I will be pulling that one back out and carrying it again here real soon; mainly because it just screams spring & summer, plus it is a Liz Claiborne and I rarely buy designer things, but I think I only paid 15.00 for that purse on clearance and it soo rocks. I am all about a good sale too! :O) Soo, anyway, this is my winter purse and the color does so rock and it has been a good purse so it will be around for a little longer, but I sooo love to change my purse, kind of weeds out all the junk that gathers in there too! :O)

So now to tag five bag buddies!

Ami
Leigh Anne
Ullis aka Emmy
Jenny
Beth

House Mouse Monday Challenge 25 - Sketch

Alrighty.... I wasn't sure I was going to get this challenge accomplished this week because it has been a crazy week, BUT since I had a baby shower to attend tomorrow I really wanted to make a card so I thought I would try to combine the two. Although I wish I had one of the cute little mouse stamps with them in the baby shoes to use, this is the best one I had to use. So with that said I went with it because after all it is cute too. So... since everyone else seemed to keep the same design, I decided I wanted to flip the design sideways and I also made it into a tri-fold card. I made a shaker box for my main element of focus. I soo love making them and knew as soon as I seen this sketch I was going to make one of some kind. I really didn't want to do a circle, because once again everyone seemed to be doing circles, except a few, BUT I did one only because I wanted to do my sentiment in the manner that I did it, so it worked perfect for me to stamp my image and make a shaker box. I did my text wrap in word. I also did the inside which is also below. Since my shaker box hung over the edge of the card when you opened it I stamped another image more close up and placed it on the inside without color (see below) I think this turned out super cute and I am quite pleased with it. I don't ever use sketches to make cards, not sure why, because it is so much easier and takes a lot of the thinking and design process out of it for you... but I enjoyed using this sketch and I truly enjoy seeing what everyone else comes up with! Thanks for looking and double thanks if you left some luvins! Have a squeaky kind of day!!

The blog had a sponsor 2redbananas this week, not only are they donate a fab prize but they created and joined in with this challenge to give us even more inspiring work to look at. Here is the sketch they gave us and under that is what I came up with. The link to this challenge if you want to see all the others great creations is in my title post.

I won some blog candy!!

OK.. I guess I am feeling lucky these days!! Last night I was informed by Beth of Wind Walker Altered Arts that I won her blog candy just for leaving a comment! I was thrilled because it included a cute house mouse stamp and some scrumptious embellies!! I am soo in love with the house mouse line of stamps and have been for many many years. It is funny how you see stamps, but until you see them in use you might not be sure how you would use it. Beth had an ATC on her blog that used this stamp and I instantly fell in love with how she used it. So, I am the lucky recipent of receiving one of her lovely blog candies!! I am soo excited and can't wait to put it to use on the House Mouse Monday Challenge! Beth has some beautiful work over on her blog so you should stop by and see it. It always amazes me how there is so much talent out there in blog world. It never ceasese to amaze me that if you gave 100 people the same stamp how many different designs and ideas that would come about from that same little stamp! It is truly amazing and inspirational!!! So... this is the blog candy I recieved from Beth! Her blog is linked to the title post here, so stop by and see her and tell her Nina sent you! Thanks again Beth!!

A FUN CANDY BLOG - I won and YOU CAN TOO! Read this.....

I "won" a homemade gift by leaving one of the first 5 comments on Nancy's blog, the link to her blog is in this post title if you would like to check out her lovely blog. SO, now I'll see who my first 5 are. The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you!
This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year! (I will get it to you in the next month or so, hopefully - grin).
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. I have tons of ideas, but who knows what it will be? Not you, that's for sure!
5. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog! (then come here and post, I WILL check your blog *wink*) The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!
So....who will be the first 5 people????? (ends March 14, 2009)

Some More Tall & Thin!

Soo... after doing the House Mouse Challenge I was really liking this tall and thin format. So here are 2 more cards I made for some friends that have some upcoming birthdays. I thought I would keep with the tall and thin since that is a format that I do not normally sway to. But I certainly will be keeping this format in mind more. I received both these images from an image swap on SCS. I certainly need to get over there and get some more cute images. I love the idea of swapping stamped images. I have lots of stamps, but of course if I had all the stamps I wanted I am not sure where I would keep them. So swapping stamped images gives you a wider range of collecting images, but it also limits you in some other creative way, if you know what I mean. I have received some really cute ones from SCS site though.

I colored both these images with my Mark-it markers. I made both cards mostly with scraps, except the base. I also did the inside up. I usually do, but for the most part I always fail to take a pic of the insides. Cards are a great way to use up some of your scraps.. ok.. off to make one more card!! LOL...

One thing about these tall and thin cards you certainly don't get a great close up pic of them, not sure why, but they tend to be smaller, so if you want more of a close up just click on the picture.

Housemouse Monday Challenge #24

OK... so here is the challenge for this week. It is tall and thin. I don't hardly ever think to do cards in this format. I would say that this is a bit more of a challenge and makes you think more "out side the box". Which I guess is where the challenge lies! LOL.... So.... This is what they posted for the challenge: "Our challenge this week is :~ Tall & Thin. You may wonder what on earth I mean.......lol, I'd best be explaining a bit more - please use a tall and thin cardblank to make your card. The standard size tall card is a DL but please feel free to use any size tall card." I am not sure what DL means so I just made a card that fits into one of the standard tall and thin envies! :O) I think the designers cards were great for inspiration for this. Here is mine: (the sentiment saids: "There is joy in a good friend" - click on the picture for a closer look):



I started out with cute little Monica jumping for joy. I kind of had my phrase in my head that I wanted to use for this and so the jumping for joy certainly fit my card. I stamped her 3 times on cream cs and one of those images I stamped on my mirror image stamp which is how I flipped her. I then used my nestabilities and cut each one out and also added a brown one the same size just behind the stamped one. I colored everything thing with my prismacolor pencils. I then doodled around each design. I also used the stamp image sweet kiss to place at the bottom of my card.
I cut and rounded the corners on the stripes behind the three images of Monica. I inked them in pink and brown and then added a few handmade stitches and added some buttons. I bought the letters stamps at the dollar bin at Michael's that I used for my phrase and I soo love using those little stamps! I cut each one of them out and placed them on pop-up dots. Doodled a little more and inked a little more around the edges then added my brown ribbon and little bow flourish and flower and called it complete! Hope you enjoy my version of the challenge and thanks for looking!

more cards....

Here are a couple of birthday cards that I made for some of my girlfriends... I will be back later with the details..

Domino Necklaces

I stumbled upon this site "The Enchanted Gallery" one night doing "stumble upon" and fell in love with it. I was intrigued with the art and also the thought of making jewelry out of dominos. I guess there are a lot of people out there making them. So I did a simple one to start out with and I made these to give as a small gift to each woman that is going through a retreat this weekend. I will be there working behind the scenes the whole weekend and Saturday night is a banquet type meal that is candle light and is awesome so I made these to put at every place setting for the women. I thought it was a lot of fun to do and then just give away. Since they were soo simple by design they really did not take me that long to make I made them all in a day and that was at two different sittings. I started with a domino that I bought at Toy's R US, I used a fairly cheap bead for the top part to use like a bail to thread the cord through (the one posted has a chain, but I will be using black hemp on all the rest. The glue I used was E-6000. Kimberly has this all posted in great detail on her blog/site so you should go check it all out and look at her stamps as well. I ordered some and can't wait to put them to use on some of these for Christmas gifts. But, anyway... I made 70 of these and I used Tim Holtz alcohol inks and blending solution and used like 3-4 different colors. I stamped my heart shape with a permanent ink and then I wrote the word Love on them. I then sprayed them with an sealer and then I went back and gold embossed them and added the rhinestone with the same glue. I have never used that glue before and believe me it is a strong glue. If you want to see more domino necklaces do a search or go to Esty there are a ton out there... who would have ever guessed that? Not me! but maybe I am just clueless! LOL... I think I will only be using about 50 of them so if anyone would like to purchase one let me know... I will let you have it for 10.00 or maybe I will give a few away as some blog candy!! LOL.. maybe that will get someone to leave a message on my blog!! Well, anyways, I plan on making more, but have them a little more artsy fartsy flair to them. So, stay tuned and who knows when the next one will appear! Thanks for stopping by and looking! oh... and the Kimberly's blog/site link is linked to this post title or you can find that blog on my side bar!

Housemouse Monday Challenge #23

Ok... here is my first entry to my first challenge here.... I love this image and thought it would be a cute image for Valetine's Day. It really isn't one of the traditional images one might pick for something like this, but when I look at these two they certainly look like they are longing for each other's friendship... :O)



I used Basic Grey's Urban Praire. I used my Bic Mark-it's to color the image and some colors pencil too. I cut out and around part of the image and placed the matted image on pop-dots (that is why my dots look a little off, but they are not, it's my photography skills apparently) I also placed the tiny heart on a pop-up dot too.
THANKS for looking.

Housemouse Monday Challenge Designer Team

ok.. I just ran across this blog today and I must say I am in love with it at first glance. Having mice and rats as pets I ADORE housemouse stamps! So after looking around and reading this blog I thought... what the heck... The only thing better would be to receive the stamps for free!! If you too would like to visit their blog the site is linked to this post title. So, here is my reply to their post:

1. Why you would like to join the team: Well, first because I adore mice and rats and little critters!.. LOL.. as pets that is.. when I first discovered the housemouse stamp site looking for real mice stuff, I instantly fell in love with these stamps. I personally think these stamps have such personality that just comes alive in their images. I ADORE not only the original housemouse stamps, I adore the happy hoppers and Gruffies as well. I have never attempted to go for a designer team position, but feel like this would be a great fit for me. Mainly though, I would like to be an inspirtation and encouragement to anyone and everyone creatively as an individual and as a team member.

2. Show three samples of your best work on the post: Hope you like what I chose... you can find more of my cards in my gallery, the link is at the top of my blog... thanks for looking..

Holly Berry House Stamps

I keep getting looks at this card, per this stamp. So I thought I would repost it again on the front page. If you have never had a stamp like this or used one in a layer type technique, you should really try one. I love how these turn out. They are a little more work, but well, worth the extra effort. I used a lot of stickles on this one and it looks like a confection in real life. So maybe you too should invest in one of these stamps! I actually have 7 layers on this, seperated by pop-up dots... If you come here to look, please leave me a message, everyone always comes and looks, but very few leave a message! :O)

Use that pattern paper challenge....

I did this lo for a challenge on scrapbook.com for my ETG the challenge was: "We all have it. We all love it. Yes I do mean patterned paper ! For this challenge, let your PP take center stage. Use it to cut out your own amazing embellies and flowers. Use as much as you like, as many patterns as you like, just have FUN!! All coloring agents and any metal embellies are allowed. Also you can use anything you like for the title."

So consider challenging yourself to do the same, limit yourself to a certain supply or just a few and then attempt to do a layout using "just" those supplies. You just might be surprised at how much you can really do with a limited amount of supplies.



ok.. so I used DCWV Pet stack for this... LOL.. I know I know, but some of that pp is super cute! The background pp is K&Company - Wild Saffron. I cut the flowers, the heart and the side boarder from the paper (the pet stack), the little owl I made out of pp and some distressed pp. The title is cut from the same pp that is the boarder around the pictures and the arrow I cut from a green stripe from a piece of pp that I made myself and doodled on it. I used the opposites attrack cricut cartridge for the title, doddled on the page some and added the little chain, tag and page anchors. Behind that picture with the anchors there is hidden journaling.

Hidden journaling reads: I see a young girl growing into a young lady. You are becoming independent, responsible and growing into being very much your own person. You have a kind and caring way about you. You are very sweet, but you certainly have a sassy side to you too. You are becoming more beautiful with each passing year. I love what I see! Love Mommy

Also, Rachel took these pictures of herself too, which I love! That is also why there is a shadow in the center pic it is her shadow. She messed around with the one on the top left in photoshop and changed the color around, I love the fact that all these pictures are looking at you at a kind of different angle too on the layout.

YIKES!!

THIS is what we woke up to yesterday morning! It was 11-12 inches of snow and it was a snow day for the kids because all the schools were closed. It is really pretty but digging your car out or your driveway after the snowplow comes by is not soo pretty they dumped like 3 feet of snow around cars and at the end of everyone's driveway, which stunk! Oh well, today it's back to normal, well sorta, some kids went to school and some didn't. Go figure. Just thought I would share our weather for those not as fortunate and never get snow! LOL... want some? I'll send it your way, we certainly have plenty!

Alrighty, I have added my embellishments....

And this is the end result of my artist trading cards being complete now on the front. I still have the back to do before they are called complete. Just wanted to post the finished product. If you have not read my blog, all these atc's started with the image of my face. The how I did it is below, down a few posts. If you try this out send me a link I would love to see what others of done. Thanks for stopping by and if you left me some comments.... double thanks!

Ok.. so here is my SECOND digi layout...LOL I promise to stop counting after 5, well maybe...

(sorry Mindy, I promise my next one will be traditional) and I must admit this could get to be addicting. This lovely kit is called "Happy New Year" and is from http://sweetblossomdesigns.blogspot.com/ I downloaded it just a few weeks ago and I am soo loving this lo of my 2 boys. This kit seemed just perfect for boys too which is a great thing, although I am sure very it could be used many ways. These little owls are super cute. I did this in Print Shop 23 Deluxe. Some of the other small elements, such as the brown brads, the metal plate and the brown torn paper is from "absolutely autumn" from http://sweetblossomdesigns.blogspot.com/. The paper is called "patriotic paper" and because it does not have a sheet with it stating the facts of how you can use it I don't have any idea where I got it from but it is the the blue and the background paper. I will have to go back and figure out where the ric-rac and the red pp from. I also dropped some shadows behind the little owls to give it some depth and behind the picture and the flurish type vine. Also, the vine was blue in the kit and I changed it to this more white color.

Also, if you click on my title to this post it will take you directly to Sweet Blossom Designs where there is great digi kits!! Free and for sale!

Thanks for looking

My FIRST Digital Layout!

OK... this is my very first complete digital layout that I have liked. I thought since I have been collecting digi stuff, I should at least give it a try. I did love making this, no mess to clean up, but I also love to just get my hands on things to and make that mess regardless of cleanup, if you know what I mean. I thought since I was giving Stephanie a plug on her freebie kit, I should at least try it out and show ya what you can do. Now even though this layout has a lot of her kit in it, I still used some other kits and mixed them. I just wanted a little splash of another color (I am so like that) so I pulled in some elements from another kit called "Spontaneous Delight" by Shally Princess @ http://www.shabbyprincess.com. I do love how this turned out and the only thing I would suggest when making kits from my first time user perspective is add ribbon or fibers! I love love love ribbon and fibers, but that is just me, but I kept wanting to put some ribbons on here and had a hard time looking for some in my downloads. Which brings me to another question? How does one organize their digi scrappin downloads to keep them organized and know where stuff is?? By seperate files for paper, embellishments, ect? If you have any great suggestions there for me, leave me a note, I sure could use some! Also, for my picture I took it into my photo editing and changed the color to match the papers and also added some distress to it, which looks great on this layout. So, be brave and mess with youe photos too and try different things out there. Thanks for looking and remember to stop by Stef's blog and link it to yours! If you like what you see, just click on my title to this post and it will take you directly to her blog! Enjoy and tell her Nina sent you!

Do you want to make a unique personal Artist Trading Card?

Well, if you do you might want to read this. This is the picture I started out with. It is a recent picture of me and the base to all the ATC's that follow in this post. If you read further down I will tell you how I did them... Enjoy and if you do some link them back to me I would love to see them!





Here is the picture that I worked from after I did the following. I did this in Printshop 23 Deluxe. First I just brought in my picture that I wanted to work with. Turned it into a black and white image. Then I went into photo tools and adjusted the color. I turned my Gamma all the way to 100 which lightened it quite a bit. Then I also adjusted the brightness so it lightened it a bit more. Then I saved it and then I went into Effects and applied a special effect. I chose the cloud one which made it look like this. Then I printed off several of them just measuring under 3.5/2.5. Then I just took my black millenium pen and outlined the main parts of my face and then I just got creative and did my designs. I colored my designs with my Mark-it markers by bic. I also added some glittery chalks and still need to add a little more embellishments to them before I call them complete. I think I will try some more with a differnt face position or use one of my children's faces. I am going to have fun making some more of these! Below are all the ones I am working on right now......

Ok... although I still need to add some embellishments to these I was soo excited about how much fun I had making these that I had to show them off before they were completely finished. I will post them when they are completely done. These were a lot of fun to make and they are definately one of a kind, lol, all with my face! How fun is that? These would also be a great fun project for any child that has that creative side to them. So, if you come by and see these and want to trade an ATEO I have some of these for trade so just leave a message here or leave me your email I would love to trade.

Freebie Digi Scrap Kits By Stef

Well, I thought I would share some great freebie digi kits with you from Steph Scraps blog. She designs these herself and would love to have some traffic come through. So I am giving her a plug here, plus we all get an extra add-on if 10 people place a link to her blog, so go check her out and if you love what you see, and you will, link her! Her link is in my side bar under "Places I Love To Hang" or click on this title. Although I don't digi scrap, I just kind of mess around in it right now, it is all kind of new to me, I do love to downloads her kits and a few others because some day I will sit down and make a digi layout. I might just try this new kit out and do one, if I do, I will post it here and give Steph all the credit. He blog also has some more great links to other digi blogs. So, if you are a digi scrapper make sure you check them out, they are great eye candy!

PLEASE bare with me

I am in the process of redoing my blog, have lost all my great links.. tear tear - ugh... will be back later

More Cards and are't they cute!

I made these 3 cards using the Euphoria Basic Grey Paper. I sooo love this paper it is soo soft, pretty and has a lot of interest in it. I pretty basically used that same pp and same color of cardstock for these 3 cards. I also love to use the same supplies and see how many different looks I can get while using them. Although each card has the same color palette and some of the same elements each card is uniquely it's own. So try doing the same, use the same stamp image, a piece of clip art and/or elements and see how many different looks you can come up it, but mostly have fun!

Imagine if...

This is a little thank you card I did the other day for a friend. We played the game "Imagine if.." the other night at their house with a group of friends and I just wrote a quick thank you note for the evening out.

I started with a blank white card that already had this dry embossed flower on it and I just chalked it and inked the edges. Added torn pp from old world and then heat embossed gold powder on it around the edges. I cut out the lady and the stamp type image and the flower. The blue berry vine is a rub-on ( you can hardly see it) and I stamped the letters/words "Imagine if" and then cut them out. I added the twisted ribbon with glue dots and a brad and then cut off a small piece of some rhinestones in a design flourish package. I think it turned out cute. I think she will love this little card.